October 269, 2020 Edition of the Bay Area Reporter

Ride, Sally Ride

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Poised for a win in Santa Cruz

Happy ending for dognapping

ARTS

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Halloween horrors

The

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Serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer communities since 1971

Vol. 50 • No. 44 • October 29-November 4, 2020

Little change for nonprofits as SF enters yellow tier

by John Ferrannini

Screengrab via Zoom

Castro LGBTQ Cultural District advisory board member Stephen Torres spoke during the CBD virtual meeting.

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Castro CBD hits pause button on security cameras

by John Ferrannini

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n light of vocal opposition to a proposed plan to install security cameras throughout the business district in San Francisco’s LGBTQ Castro neighborhood, the group entertaining the idea is hitting the pause button for now.

Rather than move forward with instituting the safety initiative, the Castro/Upper Market Community Benefit District will instead launch an online survey to gather public feedback and host a Zoom “town hall/listening session” about the proposal, its executive director told the Bay Area Reporter in a phone interview Thursday, October 22.

“I don’t know the dates yet,” said Andrea Aiello, a lesbian, as for when the virtual meeting would be held.

See page 8 >>

an Francisco has achieved the least restrictive COVID state reopening status – yellow tier – but most LGBTQ nonprofit offices won’t be welcoming back people indoors anytime soon.

As of Tuesday, October 27, nonessential offices were allowed to open at 25% of capacity, with restrictions.

“Offices with fewer than 20 employees can reopen beyond 25%, to the extent that space allows employees to maintain social distancing.

Specific ventilation guidelines must be met to the greatest extent possible,” an October 20 news release from Mayor London Breed states.

“Under the new health guidance, employers must conduct a health check of employees each day that they report to the office. If San Francisco’s case rates remain stable or continue to improve for at least 30 days following reopening on October 27, the city will consider further expanding office capacity to 50%.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s tier system replaced a hodgepodge of city, county, and state regulations that’d been in effect from March-September. Counties still retain authority to make final decisions.

The Bay Area Reporter contacted eight nonprofits that would be affected. Six responded.

Four said essential services have continued unabated and nothing is changing at this time;

CALIFORNIA GENERAL ELECTION

State Senate Dist. 11: Scott Wiener SF Supervisors District 1: Connie Chan District 3: Aaron Peskin District 5: Dean Preston District 7: Myrna Melgar District 9: Hillary Ronen District 11: Ahsha Safaí

State Assembly (Bay Area) Dist. 15: Buffy Wicks Dist. 18: Rob Bonta Dist. 16: Rebecca Bauer-Kahan Dist. 25: Alex Lee Dist. 28: Evan Low

Fremont Mayor: Justin Sha San Ramon City Council, Dist. 3: Sameera Rajwade AC Transit, At-Large: Victoria Fierce AC Transit, Ward 1: Ben Fong Livermore City Council, Dist. 3: Brittni Kiick Morgan Hill City Council, Dist.

C: Rene Spring Santa Clara City Council, Dist. 6: Anthony Becker South San Francisco City Council, Dist. 4: James Coleman Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee, Area 4: Ketzal Gomez San Jose-Evergreen Community College Trustee, Area 7: Ali Sapirman Palo Alto Unified School Dist.

Board of Education: Katie Causey Pinole County Council: Devin Murphy

State Senate (Other) District 5: Susan Talamantes Eggman District 9: Nancy Skinner District 17: John Laird

SF City College Board Shanell Williams Tom Temprano Aliya Chisti Alan Wong

Congress (Bay Area) Dist. 2: Jared Huffman Dist. 3: John Garamendi Dist. 5: Mike Thompson Dist. 10: Josh Harder Dist. 11: Mark DeSaulnier Dist. 12: Nancy Pelosi Dist. 13: Barbara Lee Dist. 14: Jackie Speier Dist. 15: Eric Swalwell Dist. 17: Ro Khanna Dist. 18: Anna Eshoo Dist. 19: Zoe Lofgren

BART Board District 9: Bevan Dufty District 7: Lateefah Simon

JUDGES Alameda County Superior Court Office 2: Mark Fickes

State Assembly (SF) Dist. 17: David Chiu Dist. 19: Phil Ting

Bay Area (Other) Oakland City Council, At-Large: Rebecca Kaplan District 3: Lynette McElhaney Alameda City Council: Jim Oddie

SF School Board Mark Sanchez Jenny Lam Michelle Parker Kevine Boggess

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asmine Gee started setting aside at least 15 minutes a day to practice her clarinet. She’s sequestered alone in her studio apartment in adherence of the San Francisco order that all residents who are nonessential workers remain home to curtail the spread of the novel coronavirus. She also works on various puzzles, whether crosswords or word finders, to pass the time.

Gee, 71, would also stream shows and movies, but only via her small cellphone screen, since she doesn’t own a computer, nor did she have a television when the shelter-in-place-orders went into effect in March. But that changed this summer, after her friends were able to raise $300 via a crowdsourcing campaign to buy her a TV and an antenna to access a host of local stations and channels for free.

“I have my clarinet over there, that’s keeping me sane. Otherwise, I’m glued to that tube,” said Gee. “I also have email, Facebook, and Instagram to stay in touch with friends.”

One donation of $150 came from a woman in Chicago who said she had heard of Gee and wanted to help. A small group of her friends surprised Gee with the TV as a birthday present in June.

SAN FRANCISCO PROPS Yes on: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, RR CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS Yes on: 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 25 No on: 20, 22, 23, 24

1991

2011 40th anniv., readers'

Boston, P-town travel

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Considering Balenciaga

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Serving the gay, lesbian,

REPORT CITES HEALTH GAPS

by Bob Roehr

A

report released last week detailed the need for more federal and research data collection on the health of LGBT people.

Bob Roehr “Lesbian, bisexual, Dr. Robert Graham gay, and transgender individuals health disparities. experience unique LGBT is used as an Although the acronym health needs of this umbrella term, and the grouped together, community are often a distinct each of these letters represents concerns,” health population with its own the report, written stated the summary of of Medicine. by the prestigious Institute lesbians, gay men, “Furthermore, among transgender and women, bisexual men and based people, there are subpopulations status, on race, ethnicity, socioeconomicfactors,” and other geographic location, age, the report continued. statement is not While that summary with the LGBT news to anyone familiar it was made in the community, the fact that commissioned by IOM report, which was of Health, adds new the National Institutes to shaping health meaning and credibility had been policy, which that heretofore lacking. are asked Traditionally, IOM committees priorities gaps and to identify research not does paradigm that within a field. “But Dr. Robert Graham fit for this area,” chair news conference said at the March 31 releasing the report.

See page 24 >>

Our new look

decided The Bay Area Reporter that we’re 40. to update its look now slight design So we’ve made some of the paper, changes in both sections the case of the with new fonts, and in a new name.

Arts and Culture section, website has Most significantly, our for video with been updated to allow now comment stories, and readers can if they directly on our online content are friends on Facebook.▼

1981 BAR MEMBERSHIP STRIP.indd 1

bisexual, and transgender

Vol. 41 • No. 14 • April

communities since 1971

7-13, 2011

by Seth Hemmelgarn the Bay Area or 40 years now, entertained, Reporter has informed, people in San and frequently miffed Francisco and beyond.

Bob Ross – chef, The paper started when and bar culture Tavern Guild president, with business partner insider – launched it was dated April 1, Paul Bentley. The first issue on April 2, Ross’s 37th 1971 but hit the streets all the pages by hand, birthday. Ross pasted up them to local bars. copied them, and delivered took the paper In the beginning, nobody too seriously. he had an “up and Cleve Jones, who said Ross and who was down” relationship with gay icon Harvey Milk, a close friend of slain after his arrival to started reading the paper San Francisco in 1972. sort of a silly “To be honest, it was who now works with publication,” said Jones, “Most of the other the Courage Campaign. have much use for young people didn’t really about it. It was basically just announcements going on at whatever whatever specials were bar.” many early 1970s The front covers of the Imperial Court’s issues were dedicated to See page 23 >>

F Community looks back at 40 years of the B.A.R .

Founding publisher Bob Ross

Despite setbacks, LGBT nt’ ‘vibra scene in San Jose is

by Seth Hemmelgarn

several setbacks he past year has seen even in San Jose’s LGBT community, census recently as data from the 2010 Bay berg is now the revealed that the South 10th largest city in the country. have made it Recent events, however, with almost 1 million seem that for a city strength in the gay people, there’s not much community there.

DeFrank LGBT Last month, the Billy canceled its 30th Community Center had been planned for anniversary party, which tickets had been sold.

March 26. Only about 40 Silicon Valley AIDS Last November, the had organized the Leadership Center, which announced its closure. annual Walk for AIDS, before that, in And about three months Committee August, the Gay Pride Celebrationa parade. to hold of San Jose Inc. opted not LGBT organizations Of course, problems at Several San Francisco aren’t unique to San Jose. financially. And agencies have been struggling the DeFrank center people with Pride and indicate they’re all right. and when “We have a vibrant community, that they’re there,” we can engage them, I think San Jose Pride’s joined said Ray Mueller, who board earlier this year.

LGBT night One example is last Thursday’steam. Tickets hockey with the San Jose Sharks sold out in 10 days.

T

marched The Pro-Latino contingent Parade; Pride in the 2008 San Jose sure if there will be officials are not yet year, although the a Pride Parade this for August. festival is scheduled

Rick Gerharter

will generate about Mueller said the event which is August 20$1,000 for this year’s Pride, tickets, ranging from 21. A block of about 300 for the hockey night. $36 to $73, were reserved proves there are “I think the Sharks event to something that isn’t people out there to go a gay bar and have a the usual ‘Let’s go to fundraiser,’” said Mueller.

{ FIRST OF THREE SECTIONS

vation project at the agency’s purple house on Collingwood Street.

“Starting last week, we have just begun to offer some limited on-site services for basic needs on Thursday afternoons, e.g. food bags,” Schwartz wrote October 22. “We are reaching out to existing youth participants of our health and wellness and violence prevention community building groups, so that they are made aware of this opportunity.

“Services are being offered to a small numSee page 8 >>

by Matthew S. Bajko

REMEMBER TO VOTE BY NOV. 3!

1971

one said there have been recent changes to its services; and one said there will be developments soon.

Jodi Schwartz, a queer woman who is the president of Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center, wrote that LYRIC has already begun a “limited reopening.” Schwartz was the executive director of LYRIC until October 19, when that position was handed off to former St. James head Toni Newman, who is a transgender woman. Schwartz is now focusing on the $2 million capital campaign for a reno-

‘Family of choice:’ LGBTQ elders rely on each other

B.A.R. ENDORSEMENTS

President / Vice President: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris

Matthew S. Bajko

LYRIC has started offering some in-person services to clients at its Collingwood Street house.

Center official appears

hopeful

been hobbled by The DeFrank center has problems in recent financial and leadership no full-time executive years and currently has Flood, the DeFrank’s director. However, Chris that the center’s board president, indicated appear. He was at a doing better than it might See page 22 >>

Rick Gerharter

Jasmine Gee plays the clarinet in her apartment

“She was watching TV from her phone. I could not see watching TV from your phone,” said Felicia Elizondo, 74, who spearheaded the fundraising effort.

Family of choice

The two women first met through LGBTQ activism about two decades ago. Both are transgender women. They grew closer after being teamed up in 2013 through the Friendly Visitor Program operated by Openhouse, a San Francisco-based agency that provides services to older LGBTQ people.

SUPPORT ss Become a member for le

See page 8 >>

JOURNALISM than 28¢ a day

er rt o p e R a re A y a B / m o .c o ic www.tryp

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2001 9/8/20 12:48 PM

<< LGBTQ History Month

2 • Bay Area Reporter • October 29-November 4, 2020

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SF planners aim to prioritize LGBTQ historic landmarks list

by Matthew S. Bajko

F

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our years ago San Francisco planners released a list of nine LGBTQ historically significant sites they were eying to name as local landmarks. The properties ran the gamut from former bars to the headquarters of early LGBTQ rights groups.

None of the properties have yet to become officially designated city landmarks, though one is close to securing such a designation. As the Bay Area Reporter reported last week, the city’s historic preservation commission unanimously voted 6-0 in support of a request to designate the Japanese YWCA/Issei Women’s Building as a city landmark.

Earlier this year the property at 1830 Sutter Street was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Japantown Y site was where the pioneering gay rights group the Mattachine Society hosted its first convention in May 1954, according to the city’s LGBTQ historic context statement.

Bayard Rustin, the late gay African American civil rights leader, also taught a course at the site, according to research done by Donna Graves in preparing the request to list it on the National Register. It is now up to the Board of Supervisors to finalize its placement on the list of local landmarks, which currently numbers 288.

Another property on the list is Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, whose building is considered to be two sites, a church at 330 Ellis Street and an apartment and hotel building at 301 Taylor Street. It is currently awaiting a vote by the California State Historical Resources Commission in support of its nomination for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Its application details how Glide has provided sanctuary to LGBTQ residents of its Tenderloin neighborhood as well as the citywide queer community for decades. It also notes its leaders have been vocal advocates on behalf of LGBTQ rights.

According to an update the preservation staff of the Planning Department presented to the historic preservation commission last week, it is unclear when city landmark designation will be sought for Glide’s property.

In terms of the seven other LGBTQ sites, they have languished on the preservation staff’s Landmark Designation Work Program. There

Rick Gerharter

The wooden bar still has its luster at the former Paper Doll Club in North Beach, which became San Francisco’s 278th landmark last year.

are a total of 36 properties deemed to be of historic value for various reasons on the list.

The ones of importance to the LGBTQ community include 689-93 Mission Street, known as the Williams Building, which in 1954 housed the national headquarters of the Mattachine Society, an early homophile organization that relocated from Los Angeles, and 83 Sixth Street, which from 1966 through the 1970s served as the headquarters for the Society of Individual Rights, another homophile organization that was founded in San Francisco.

Two are located in North Beach: 710 Montgomery Street, once home to the legendary gay bar the Black Cat, where drag queen José Julio Sarria worked and used as his historic 1961 supervisor campaign headquarters, and 440 Broadway, once the site of lesbian bar Mona’s 440 Club, famous for its male-impersonating performers clad in tuxedos.

The former site of Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, at 101 Taylor Street, where 54 years ago transgender and queer patrons rose up against police harassment, and 1001 Potrero Avenue, which houses Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 86 AIDS clinic, the first of its kind in the country, are also on the list.

As is 623 Valencia Street, which houses Community Thrift, a secondhand store founded by the Tavern Guild, the country’s first gay business association, that raises money for a host of local nonprofits.

(While plaques can be found at the former sites of the Black Cat and Compton’s explaining their place in LGBTQ history, neither of the buildings has been landmarked.)

When the septet of sites were added to the list four years ago, the B.A.R.

noted that because none were in imminent danger of being demolished, they were unlikely to be immediately worked on. As the preservation staff noted in its update last week, all the properties are pending designation fact sheet development and initiation to be considered for landmark status.

While it was not on the department’s list of sites to landmark, planning staff is now working on a report about the Noe Valley home of the late pioneering lesbian couple Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. They are doing so at the instruction of the Board of Supervisors, which last week adopted a resolution introduced by gay Supervisor Rafael Mandelman that seeks to designate the property at 651 Duncan Street a city landmark within a shortened time span of 90 days.

The normally lengthy process it takes for properties to become city landmarks has been an issue for years, with historic preservation commissioners routinely expressing their misgivings about the sclerotic pace. Even when property owners seek landmark status for their buildings, it can be a years-long approval process.

Such was the case with the most recent LGBTQ site to be named a city landmark, the former Paper Doll Bar at 524 Union Street. It became San Francisco’s 287th landmark June 18, 2019 after a lengthy years-long effort by the owners of the building.

“I know it is going to take a lot of time to do work on the landmark site list,” gay historic preservation commissioner Jonathan Pearlman acknowledged at last week’s meeting.

Fellow commissioner Lydia So echoed his concerns about the staff’s ability to work on all of the sites on the list and if the department would have the resources See page 9 >>

10/28/20 9:47 AM

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LGBTQ History Month>>

October 29-November 4, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 3

Sign coming to Oakland street named for Ride

by Matthew S. Bajko

A

t its August 16, 1988 meeting, the Oakland Port Commission named a newly constructed road connecting the Federal Express Metroplex and Port Building M-132 to the main cargo access roadway in the Oakland International Airport as Sally Ride Way. Minutes of the meeting note that the port has a tradition of naming its South Airport streets after American astronauts and that Ride had consented to being honored in such a manner. She was the first American woman in space when she made her historic voyage aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1983.

After a long battle with pancreatic cancer, Ride died in 2012 at her San Diego home. She was 61. While she had a female partner of 27 years, Tam O’Shaughnessy, it was not publicly disclosed that Ride was a lesbian until the time of her death.

Sacramento and Herndon, Virginia also have streets named Sally Ride Way. As for there being a roadway in Oakland named after her, it is not widely known today.

Nor is there any street signage informing the public that Sally Ride Way exists. When a reporter visited the port roadway recently, there was nothing there indicating it was named after the famous space voyager.

Unlike when built, the road is no longer readily accessible to the public. Fifteen years ago FedEx announced plans to expand its footprint at the Oakland airport, one of its regional hubs around the country, due to increased trade with China and other Asian countries.

Today, much of Sally Ride Way is within the secured area for FedEx’s facilities. A small portion remains outside the gated complex but serves as a de facto driveway where trucks stop at a security checkpoint before being let through the gates.

Across the street truck drivers park their cabs while waiting to pick up their freight. A few feet away on Air Cargo Way sits the airport control tower for the south field runway.

Oakland resident Michael Colbruno, a gay man who joined the Port Commission in 2013, told the Bay Area Reporter that no one had flagged for the oversight body that the signage for Sally Ride Way was missing until being contacted Monday, October 26, for this story.

“It’s never come up. We can take care of that, that is an easy one,” said Colbruno, adding that he would immediately contact the port’s operations manager about the missing sign.

A few hours later while being interviewed for this story, the port’s communications manager Robert Bernardo received an email that the sign had been ordered. The new signage and pole to hang it on costs $250 to produce and should be installed by mid-November.

“The street obviously exists. Sally Ride Way does exist and it is incorporated into the FedEx lease hold,” said Bernardo, a gay man who formerly was an elected member of the San Mateo County Harbor Commission. “Yeah, we need to find out why there is no sign.”

At its January 4, 2000 meeting the Port Commission had approved a new lease with FedEx that gave it the right of first refusal to expand on the then vacant land surrounding Sally Ride Way. Ever since, the roadway has been considered under the domain of the global shipping company, explained Bernardo.

“It is technically FedEx property,” he said.

FedEx’s corporate media relations department did not respond to the B.A.R.’s request for comment for this story. But a 26-year em-

James LaCroce, Ph.D. Matthew S. Bajko

A cargo truck waits on Sally Ride Way to enter the secure FedEx facility at Oakland International Airport.

ployee at the Oakland port facility, who declined to give her name to a reporter, recalled there being a Sally Ride Way street sign at some point.

When FedEx expanded its footprint in the area, it built a new secured entrance into the facility for both truck drivers and employees.

The staff now enters through a separate building where they and their bags can be screened.

There is a small parking lot in

Untitled-2 1

front of it with a few spaces for visitors. While there is no visible signage on the building signifying it is located on Sally Ride Way, printed social distancing protocol memos posted on the doors at the two entrances into the building do note the facility’s address is 1 Sally Ride Way. While it was easy to find the roadway using Google Maps, the FedEx employee said it can be difficult to get Uber drivers to pick her and her

A cargo truck waits to enter FedEx’s Oakland airport facility at the intersection of Sally Ride Way and Air Cargo Way.

colleagues up at the site if they need a ride home.

“If you catch an Uber, they don’t know where Sally Ride Way is. I don’t know why that is,” she said.

The Oakland airport also has roads named in honor of two other deceased female aviators – Bessie Coleman, the first Black and Native American woman to hold a pilot’s license, and Amelia Earhart, who landed there on May 21, 1937, after

a 19-hour flight from Hawaii – and for the late astronauts John Glenn, Neil Armstrong, and Alan Shepard.

In 2018, the B.A.R. editorialized that the Oakland airport should be named after lesbian novelist, poet, playwright, and critic Gertrude Stein, who grew up in the East Bay city. Colbruno said the port commission had discussed renaming the airport after a historic figure but had tabled the idea, as it didn’t want to get into a divisive debate about who the person should be.

“It gets very complicated,” he said. “The staff felt we should keep it Oakland International Airport so we don’t get into these battles, so we dropped it.”

As for the signage for Sally Ride Way, the port’s Bernardo told the B.A.R. none of the maritime facility’s staff knows when it went missing. Nor could he find any records of it other than the resolution adopting the name for what had been a cul-de-sac off an access road that runs between the Oakland airport’s two runways.

“No one has any pictures of it,” said Bernardo, adding, “Rest assured, in a couple weeks, you are going to see a brand new sign.” t

9/23/20 9:43 AM

<< Open Forum

4 • Bay Area Reporter • October 29-November 4, 2020

Volume 50, Number 44 October 29-November 4, 2020 www.ebar.com

PUBLISHER Michael M. Yamashita Thomas E. Horn, Publisher Emeritus (2013) Publisher (2003 – 2013) Bob Ross, Founder (1971 – 2003) NEWS EDITOR Cynthia Laird CULTURE EDITOR Jim Provenzano ASSISTANT EDITORS Matthew S. Bajko • John Ferrannini CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Tavo Amador • Roger Brigham Brian Bromberger • Victoria A. Brownworth Philip Campbell • Heather Cassell Michael Flanagan • Jim Gladstone Liz Highleyman • Lisa Keen Matthew Kennedy • David Lamble David-Elijah Nahmod • Paul Parish Tim Pfaff • Jim Piechota • Gregg Shapiro Gwendolyn Smith •Sari Staver • Charlie Wagner Ed Walsh • Cornelius Washington • Sura Wood

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The pope does not support marriage equality P ope Francis has indicated that he is a pontiff who wants the Catholic Church to look outward and engage with the wider world, and to emphasize the pastoral care of marginalized people whether they are Catholics or not. He has gone further than any pope to consistently recognize the presence and worth of LGBTQ people, even if these were only his opinions and not far enough for many. Progressive Catholics have found hope in his positions that prioritize people rather than rules, openness rather than restrictions, charity rather than punishment.

His recognition of a frail humanity deserving of love and support has made him a target of conservative Catholics who prefer a pope who stresses strict conformity to church dogma over ministering to people as they are. But this doesn’t mean Francis or the church will recognize same-sex relationships any time soon.

Last week, the pope made headlines by saying that he was open to legal civil unions between people of the same sex. While this does not change the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition to homosexuality and samesex marriage, as the Reverend James Martin pointed out in an interview with the Bay Area Reporter, it does represent a marked change of tone in attitudes toward the LGBTQ community from the leader of the world’s largest Christian church.

The following day, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone’s official response extinguished any expansive interpretation of the pope’s message. He pointed out that in January he and other nearby bishops had an audience with the “Holy Father [who] clearly differentiated between a civil arrangement which accords mutual benefits to two people, and marriage. The former, he said, can in no way be equated to marriage, which remains unique.”

Francis and Cordileone see civil unions not

Bill Wilson

Pope Francis

as a relationship based on love akin to marriage but as a practical arrangement that affords legal rights to two people. Cordileone added that “a civil union of this type (one which is not equated to marriage) should be as inclusive as possible, and not be restricted to two people of the same sex in a presumed sexual relationship. There is no reason, for example, why a brother and a sister, both of whom are unmarried and support each other, should not have access to these kinds of benefits.” In other words, these relationships should not be confused with marriage.

It would be incorrect to say that the pope or the Catholic Church is open to changing its teaching on the sacrament of marriage, which is strictly reserved for a sexual union between a man and a woman for the purpose of having children. Cordileone ended his statement by stressing that “marriage is unique because it is

the only institution that connects children to their mothers and fathers, and therefore is presumed to be a sexual relationship. Indeed, the sexual relationship that marriage is presumed to involve is the only kind by which children are naturally made. The nature of marriage, the place of sex within a virtuous life, these great teachings of the Church come to us from God, are illuminated by reason, and do not change.”

In the view of the church, the loving relationships of LGBTQ people can never be sanctioned by marriage because our unions cannot produce offspring. As has been pointed out before, this somehow doesn’t apply to straight couples who choose not to have children or are incapable because of medical reasons, or couples who marry after childbearing age.

For the archdiocese, marriage is even above the law and the safety of the public. This summer, the city had to issue a cease and desist letter to stop a marriage ceremony from flouting COVID regulations against large crowds gathering. As the San Francisco Chronicle reported, at least 10 people contracted COVID-19 at an indoor wedding at which a deputy city attorney appeared at the last minute to demand it be reduced in number and moved to a safer location outdoors. Both the religious order that operates the church and the archdiocese have denied any knowledge of purposefully breaking any health rules.

Francis has projected an image of a forgiving father rather than a dogmatic scold, giving comfort to progressive Catholics who yearn for a church that emphasizes social justice over strict adherence to church teaching. But this is cold comfort, because the church catechism continues to deny the full humanity of LGBTQ people by teaching that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.” Despite what people interpret in Francis’ message, it is clear that he and the local archbishop agree that marriage is paramount and reserved for a man and woman. t

Landmark the Lyon-Martin house

by Shayne Watson

“S

hayne, Phyllis Lyon is on line 2.”

It was 2011, I was a few years out of graduate school, and I was back at the historic preservation firm that had hired me as a very inexperienced architectural history research assistant in 2003. My master’s thesis was centered on the historic lesbian community of North Beach, and I was looking for a pro bono project to marry my passions for historic buildings and LGBTQ history. After introducing myself to Lyon after a panel at the GLBT Historical Society Museum, I sent her a letter asking if she would let me nominate her home – the house she shared with wife Del Martin for 53 years – for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. “In my field,” I wrote, “listing a building in the National Register is one of the highest honors we can bestow upon important places, and I would be thrilled to have your consent to work on the nomination of your residence.” At the time, I noted, there was only one building in the country listed in the National Register for an association with LGBTQ history – the Stonewall Inn in New York City. “I would like to change that,” I said.

When I picked up the phone to answer her call, Lyon invited me to her house to explain the landmarking process.

Walking up the steps to the cottage at 651 Duncan Street, I had the same tingly feeling I get when I’m touring a beautiful building or a significant historic site. “This is hallowed ground,” I thought as I imagined all the different feet that had marched up those steps since 1955 when Lyon and Martin purchased the house. Lyon greeted me warmly and invited me to sit with her in the living room.

She sat in what was obviously her chair, next to a matching chair that was obviously Martin’s – heartbreakingly empty after Martin’s passing a few years earlier. The wall behind her was chock full of framed certificates and accolades that spoke to a nationwide appreciation for the power of the Lyon-Martin partnership.

The enormous (now-famous) tripartite picture window framed one of the most stunning views of San Francisco I’d ever seen.

One of the first things Lyon said to me in our meeting was that she had decided against National Register designation for her home.

She knew the value of her property on that hillside in Noe Valley and was concerned that landmark designation would prevent her

Rick Gerharter

The former home of late lesbian pioneers Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin is expected to be landmarked by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

from selling if she needed the funds for her long-term care. Although deeply disappointed, I understood her reluctance and settled in to enjoy the rest of our visit. Walking back down those steps that evening I was content with the outcome but knew one thing for certain: 651 Duncan Street is one of the most significant LGBTQ historic sites in the country, with or without official designation. Sadly, Lyon died in April at the age of 95.

Fast-forward to September 2020, scrolling mindlessly through my Facebook newsreel, an article on SF Gate announced the sale of 651 Duncan Street with the following headline: “756 square foot home atop Noe Valley sells for $2.25M.” The author gushes about how this tiny home was in such high demand that it listed in mid-August and closed escrow two weeks later. She calls the view from the living room “multi-mil” but says the view doesn’t justify the price. So what does? The fact that the very modest Lyon-Martin house sits on a 5,600 square foot double lot: the “last parcel of undeveloped land atop Noe Valley” where homes “have easily sold for $5-6M.” As long as the new owner “keeps construction costs under control,” she cautions, “a turn over (read: flip) of this property could be very profitable.”

Yuck, right?

Within a few days, I had rallied the troops and organized a community meeting cosponsored by the GLBT Historical Society and San Francisco Heritage. Meeting attendees included caretakers of Lyon who were with her until her passing, lifelong friends of Lyon and Martin, and fans and supporters of the couple from as far away as Minnesota and New York. Also among the Zoom participants was gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who announced his intention to initiate the San Francisco landmark process for the LyonMartin house. By the end of the meeting, we had formed a community advocacy group – the Friends of the Lyon-Martin House – to develop a preservation plan for 651 Duncan.

True to his promise, Mandelman proposed landmarking at the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee hearing October 19. Committee Chair and District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who asked to be a co-sponsor of the resolution, remarked, “If there is a deserving landmark, this is certainly it.” The following day at the full Board of Supervisors hearing, the group voted unanimously to initiate the landmark process.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation submitted a letter in support, writing: “[A] cross the country, historic places that reflect the history of the LGBTQ+ community are woefully underrepresented on registries of historic properties. Clearly, there is a need for the identification, recognition, and preservation of many more LGBTQ+ historic sites to ensure that we are telling a full and truthful American story.”

The Friends of the Lyon-Martin House is now organizing a second community meeting to discuss how we can see this landmark nomination through to the end. Please join us by signing up at https:// www.friends-of-the-lyon-martin-house. com/. t Shayne Watson, a lesbian, is an architectural historian specializing in LGBTQ history. She is co-author of the Citywide Historic Context Statement for LGBTQ History in San Francisco and the San Francisco chapter of LGBTQ America, the National Park Service’s nationwide LGBTQ theme study. She is the founding chair of the GLBT Historical Society’s Historic Places Working Group.

t

Politics >>

October 29-November 4, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 5

1st out judge likely in Santa Cruz

by Matthew S. Bajko

V

oters in Santa Cruz County are poised to elect next week the first LGBTQ judge to their local superior court. Attorney Nancy de la Peña, a lesbian married mother of two daughters, is the de facto lone candidate in the race after placing first out of the three candidates who ran in the March primary.

The second place finisher, defense attorney Annrae Angel, announced in July that she was suspending her campaign for the judicial seat. Her name will still appear on the November 3 ballot, however, since the local elections department was required to include both names of the candidates who advanced to the fall runoff race.

Thus, in a phone interview this week with the Bay Area Reporter, de la Peña expressed cautious optimism that she will win the contest and be sworn onto the bench in early 2021.

“It is a bit convoluted,” she noted about the circumstances surrounding her campaign. “I think everybody anticipates that I will win the election and the courts are making provisions for me being the judge who will be sworn in on January 4, unless the governor makes an early appointment. Given the economics of these times, I would not foresee that happening.”

De la Peña, 63, was born in New Mexico but lived all over the country as a child. She graduated from high school in Los Angeles and earned a political science degree from UC Berkeley in 1979.

She lived in San Francisco for a while and eventually enrolled at law school at UC Davis, from which she graduated in 1985. After couch surfing with friends near the campus, de la Peña landed a job later that year with the Santa Cruz County Public Defender’s office.

She left there after 30 years to work as an assistant county counsel where she has assisted the Family & Children Services Division in child abuse cases and the sheriff’s office in obtaining orders to remove guns from individuals who pose a danger to themselves or others. De la Peña and her wife,

Courtesy Nancy de la Peña

Attorney Nancy de la Peña is poised to win a judicial seat in Santa Cruz County.

Janet Gellman, who is retired, have two adult daughters – Emma, 23, who lives in Santa Cruz, and Malika, 20, a junior at UC Santa Barbara.

The couple will likely go out for dinner with Emma and watch election results come in at home, de la Peña said. Not only has the COVID health crisis led candidates to cancel election night events with their supporters, hosting a party doesn’t feel appropriate so soon after people lost their homes to the recent wildfires in the Santa Cruz region, she said.

“I am anticipating a low-key event, what can you say? How can you celebrate when so many devastating things are happening in your community?” she asked. “It is for me a moment of personal reflection and pride.”

De la Peña has long wanted to become a judge and twice went through the review process for judicial appointments during former governor Jerry Brown’s most recent two terms in office. Despite being rated as qualified, she was never tapped for a court vacancy by Brown.

“When I did an analysis of how women got on the bench in Santa Cruz County, the majority always had to run in an election,” she said. “While we like to think of Santa Cruz as a progressive and diverse community, this bench has to look different than it does.”

The Santa Cruz County Superior Court is one of 42 county benches in California that had no out judges on it as of the end of 2019. According to the annual reports on the demographic

makeup of the state’s judicial branch, the 16 other superior courts all had at least one LGBTQ jurist among its members.

Of the Santa Cruz court’s 12 members last year, five were women and only two were people of color. Its lack of diversity is an issue de la Peña has long regarded as problematic and one that also is true of the ranks of lawyers in the county.

“I have been out in my practice here my entire career,” she said. “This county has some LGBTQ out attorneys, but back in 1986 that was not a common event.”

Today, there are far more out female attorneys in the area than men, noted de la Peña. The county has a large Latino community but it is not adequately represented on the local bench commensurate to its size, something de la Peña raised in a letter she sent to Brown advising him to make more diverse appointments to vacancies on the county court.

“I sent him a list of possible picks among from the D.A. and public defender’s offices and among local civil practitioners. We need to have a diverse bench,” she said. “We need to look at how our bench looks like and how it reflects our communities and understand that visual to the community is an important visual.”

Should she be elected to the judicial seat as expected, de la Peña said she plans to continue to talk to youth about a legal career and newer members of the local bar about considering a judicial seat. The county is seeing a wave of attorneys with solo practices entering retirement and half of its judges will be retiring over the next seven years, she noted.

“These are things I think are important and that need a voice to represent,” said de la Peña.

Asked about the expected confirmation on November 10 of retired justice Martin Jenkins, a gay Black man, as the first out person on the California Supreme Court, de la Peña responded, “It is about time.”

She added, “For him to represent not only the LGBTQ community but also the African American community, for young black men to see that is an extraordinary gift he has given to all of us.” t

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415-781-6500 *Certified by the California State Bar 400 Montgomery Street, Ste. 505, San Francisco, CA

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SF supervisors back drag stamps campaign

by Matthew S. Bajko

PlanningAhead Ahead isisSimple Planning Simple The benefits are immense.

T

he San Francisco Board of Supervisors has thrown its weight behind a campaign seeking the U.S. Postal Service to issue stamps honoring three deceased drag icons who have become heroic figures within the LGBTQ community. It is the first elected body to officially endorse the postage effort.

At its meeting October 27 during the last week LGBTQ History Month, the board unanimously adopted a resolution authored by gay District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman in support of seeing stamps featuring José Julio Sarria, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera.

They would be the first such stamps issued in honor of drag performers.

The board voted 11-0 on the resolution without any discussion.

“Representation and visibility of LGBTQ people, and of queer people of color in particular, is more important than ever. José Sarria, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera were giants in the LGBTQ rights movement and are certainly deserving of joining Harvey Milk on USPS stamps,” Mandelman told the Bay Area Reporter following his resolution’s adoption.

“I’m glad that the Board of Supervisors has joined many others in calling for this deserved recognition for these LGBTQ heroes.”

Sarria, who died in 2013 at the age

people in New York City who were shunned by their families, as the New York Times noted in a story last year about city officials planning to install a monument featuring the close friends When you plan your life celebration and lasting remembrance in not far from the Stonewall Inn. advance, you can design every detail of your own unique memorial San Diego resident Nicole Murray and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead Ramirez launched the campaign this When your celebration lasting protectsyou your plan loved ones fromlife unnecessary stress and and financial burden, summer after the Bay Area Reporter When you remembrance plan your celebration and lasting remembrance in allowing themlife to focus on what will matter most at that time—you. in advance, you can design every contacted him for comment about advance, you canofdesign every detail of your ownand unique memorial detail own memorial provide Contact usyour today about theunique beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy several stamps issued to commemoat the San Francisco Columbarium. and provide your loved ones with true peace of mind.

Planning rate the 80th birthday of Bugs Bunny your loved ones with true peace of mind. Planning ahead depicting the animated rabbit in drag. protects your loved onesProudly from unnecessary stressunnecessary and financial burden, ahead protects yourserving loved onesCommunity. from the LGBT It is believed to be the first time drag focus on whatburden, will matter most them at thattotime—you. stresstoand financial allowing has been featured on U.S. stamps.allowing them Known as the Queen Mother I of focus on what will matter most at that time—you. the Americas and Nicole the Great Contact us today about the beautiful ways to create a lasting legacy within the Imperial Court System, at the San Contact FranciscousColumbarium. today about the beautiful ways to create Murray Ramirez is now the titular head of the 55-year-old organization. a lasting legacy at the San Francisco Columbarium.

He helped push to see the U.S. stamp One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 Proudly serving our Community. that was issued in 2014 for the late gay SanFranciscoColumbarium.com San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk Proudly serving the LGBT Community.

FD 1306 / COA 660 and has signed up close to two-dozen LGBTQ leaders as honorary co-chairs of the drag stamps campaign.

“San Francisco is taking the lead on this, as the board is the first elected government body to support it,” said Murray Ramirez, as the appointed San Diego Human Relations Commission is the only other body to vote in support of the state campaign. “I think One Loraine Ct. | San Francisco | 415-771-0717 José is smiling down at the board and we are all very grateful, especially for SanFranciscoColumbarium.com the leadership of Supervisor Mandelman.” t FD 1306 / COA 660

Planning Ahead is Simple The benefits are immense.

The benefits are immense.

Frameline, Rick Gerharter, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project.

A campaign is seeking postage stamps for drag icons Marsha P. Johnson, José Julio Sarria, and Sylvia Rivera

of 90, was a legendary San Franciscobased drag queen who founded the Imperial Court in 1965 and grew it into an international philanthropic drag organization. The Latino Army veteran had made history four years prior as the first out gay person to seek elective office in the U.S. with his ultimately unsuccessful bid for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Rivera, who died in 2002 at the age of 50, and Johnson, who died in 1992 at the age of 46, both were trans women who also performed in drag.

They were prominent participants in the Stonewall uprising of 1969 who went on to become beloved vocal advocates for gay and transgender issues up until their deaths.

Johnson, who was Black, and Rivera, the child of a Puerto Rican father and Venezuelan mother, co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries to provide support to poor young

<< Community News

6 • Bay Area Reporter • October 29-November 4, 2020

t

Upper Market dognapping has happy ending

by Sari Staver

W

hen Doug Roenicke returned to his Upper Market home on the afternoon of October 17, he was shocked to

find that two of his 10-week-old French Bulldog puppies were missing.

Roenicke, 57, a retired corporate human resources executive who breeds, trains, and does vol-

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Modera Rincon.indd 1

unteer work with dogs, thought they might’ve slipped out of the pen he left them in that morning.

But when the puppies were nowhere to be found, Roenicke noticed that the kitchen window was wide open and presumed someone climbed into his apartment and left with the dogs.

When he found a shirt and a glass drug pipe in the dog pen, Roenicke thought the clues added up to a scary scenario: the alleged thief had probably already sold the dogs. French bulldogs are frequent targets for dognappers, said Roenicke, because they often cost $4,000 or more for a puppy.

“People have broken into cars to steal them,” said Roenicke, a gay man who has lived in San Francisco almost two decades.

“I told myself that I could not panic,” Roenicke said in a recent interview in the Castro. When asked how he was able to remain calm, Roenicke recalled the time in December 1986 when he was diagnosed with HIV. “I knew then and I knew now that I had to stay calm. I wanted to be of maximum usefulness in locating the puppies,” he said.

Roenicke immediately planned a search for the nine-pound pups, which culminated in the arrest of a suspect.

“I’d helped with dog searches before so I pretty much knew what I had to do,” he said. “There is almost a formula to locate lost animals: call the police, call animal care and control, print and distribute flyers, and get as many people as possible on the ground looking for the puppies. Also of course, jump on social media and start posting right away.”

The suspect, or suspects, didn’t bother to steal the four other dogs

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Sari Staver

Doug Roenicke holds Indigo, left, and Lila after they were returned to him following a dognapping incident

in the house or Roenicke’s valuables, including money and electronics.

“I think it was a crime of opportunity,” Roenicke theorized.

“They walked by the open window and decided what they could grab quickly were cute puppies and could get $100, which would be enough to get high for the day.”

The search

With a wide circle of friends and acquaintances in the Bay Area, as well as an extended family of people who have purchased the Frenchies he had bred in recent years, dozens of people walked the streets of the Castro and the Mission, posting over 400 fliers and asking people to be on the alert.

The story went viral on social media and after write-ups on Nextdoor and TV news stories about the missing puppies, the effort to find the dogs quickly multiplied.

“We asked people to be on the alert for something unusual, for example someone with a couple puppies who looked like he might not be able to take care of himself, let alone two puppies,” he said.

Friends and relatives of people who had previously bought Roenicke’s dogs drove to San Francisco to hep with the search, Roenicke said.

“Before I did anything else, I called the two people who had already purchased Indigo and Lila so they didn’t hear about this first on the news,” said Roenicke.

After a sleepless night, Roenicke was up early on Sunday to set up a search command post to “keep all the channels open” for information on sightings as well as updates to keep the story alive in the news.

A promising lead came from someone who worked at the 7-Eleven at 18th and Noe streets, Roenicke said. According to the employee, a man tried selling him the puppies, for $500 each, referring to them as “pit bulls.”

“A sighting – any sighting – is encouraging,” said Roenicke. “It meant the puppies were probably still in town.”

Roenicke’s niece, who lives in Redding, joined the search by making calls to homeless shelters and smoke shops, hoping someone might remember someone trying to sell a pair of puppies.

Miraculously, a clerk in a smoke shop overheard a customer trying to sell some puppies, which led to a tip that the puppies might be with someone who was living at the homeless encampment at 18th and Mission streets.

Roenicke went down there quietly asking around if anyone had seen his puppies. “I told them how scared I was” about

the theft, he said, an attitude that drew sympathy from a number of people.

Back at home, Roenicke got a call from a woman who said she bought one of the pups for her daughters, unaware that the dogs might have been stolen. “She wanted to do the right thing,” said Roenicke, returning the puppy immediately. Roenicke, in return, promised the woman he’d find the family a French bulldog through appropriate channels. He is setting up a GoFundMe campaign for the people who want a dog.

With one dog back home, Roenicke “could hardly believe it” when he got a tip that a woman living at the 18th and Mission encampment “knew where the other puppy was located,” he said.

Roenicke met with the woman.

“I got down on my knees and begged her to help me find the puppy,” said Roenicke. “We were both emotional.”

The woman said she went to Richmond to retrieve the puppy and returned the dog to Roenicke, who gave her a $400 reward.

Arrest made

About the time the dogs were returned to Roenicke, the San Francisco Police Department arrested Francisco Zaragoza, address unknown, and charged him with four felonies for grand theft and possession of stolen property as well as two misdemeanors for providing false information to peace officers and possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to Assistant District Attorney Alex Bastian, Zaragoza pleaded not guilty October 21 and was released on assertive case management. He is expected back in court November 4 for a prehearing conference.

A spokeswoman for the public defender’s office, Valerie Ibarra, said Zaragosa is being represented by an attorney from that office.

A spokeswoman for the public defender’s office, Valerie Ibarra, said Zaragoza is being represented by an attorney from that office.

In a statement, Deputy Public Defender Brian Pearlman, who is representing Zaragoza, said, “There was no premeditation in this case. Mr. Zaragoza was not in a clear state of mind when he wandered into the dog breeder’s yard via the garden gate. Two of the puppies followed him when he left, and were seen following Mr. Zaragoza down the street.

Strangers later approached Mr. Zaragoza and offered to buy the dogs, which were both returned to the breeder unharmed.”

According to the public defender’s office, the police report noted there was no evidence that Zaragoza had entered the home through the window, but rather through a gate in the yard.

In a prepared statement, the police said that while an arrest has been made, the investigation is still open. Anyone with information is asked to call the SFPD 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin your text message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.

With the dogs back home, Roenicke is philosophical about the experience.

“I am so grateful and humbled by all of the love and support from so many people – literally hundreds of friends, acquaintances, and even strangers,” he said. “People got involved, took action, and were praying and cheering on our behalf. And it worked.” t

Community News>>

t Halloween is different this year, as safety a priority

October 29-November 4, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 7

compiled by Cynthia Laird

H

alloween will be much different this year, and not just because there is no longer a street party in the Castro (it largely ended in 2007) – or any official city-sponsored events.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has put the kibosh on large gatherings, and state health officials have discouraged trick-or-treating for October 31.

For those celebrating Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a Mexican traditional celebration honoring the deceased, the California Department of Public Health recommends that the traditional altars be placed outside or created virtually. Cemetery visits should be kept short, officials advised. The Mission district event has been moved online.

San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood will have a touchless trick-or-treat event for kids Saturday, October 31, from 2 to 5 p.m. Jenn Meyer of Local Take and Castro Merchants organized the event and told the Bay Area Reporter earlier this month that about a half-dozen businesses had signed up, with more expected.

“We’re just all looking for something to do these days, a path to follow, and it’s time to start defining our new normal,” Meyer wrote in an email.

“The Castro has always been such a lively neighborhood with Halloween such a huge part of its history,” Meyer added. “I’d like to bring some of that back in a safe way, and hopefully build on it in the years to come. It’s also a great way to remind neighbors that there’s still a bunch of great businesses in the Castro.”

Some participating merchants include Meyer’s Local Take, 3979B 17th Street; Cliff’s Variety, 479 Castro Street; and Stag and Manor, 2327 Market Street.

Rivendell_Pella_101520.indd 1

Rick Gerharter

Local Take is one of the Castro district stores participating in a kids’ touchlesss trick-or-treat event on Halloween.

A map of businesses taking part is on Local Take’s website at https:// www.localtakesf.com/.

The San Francisco Police Department stated that there will be extra patrols on Halloween and noted the Department of Public Health recommends homebased activities and the use of reopened and permitted businesses and social activities that don’t pose as high a risk of coronavirus transmission.

These include virtual parties or contests, scavenger hunts for treats in your living space for members of your family, outdoor pumpkin carving, and outdoor, open-air costume parades with no more than 12 people with face coverings and participants remaining more than six feet apart.

In the South Bay, Project More will hold an LGBTQ+ HalloWellness popup Halloween-themed clinic. According to spokesman Nathan Svoboda, the free event takes place Friday, October 30, from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at

Local Color, 27 South First Street in downtown San Jose.

People can receive COVID-19 tests, flu and other vaccinations, HIV home test kits, safer sex care packages, and wellness toolkits.

Walk-ups are welcome, though people can also make an appointment. For more information, go to domoreproject.org/hallowellness/.

Dia de los Muertos at Most Holy Redeemer

Most Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic Church in the Castro is inviting people to participate in an altar of remembrance for Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).

Catholics worldwide traditionally commemorate the dead from October 31 to November 2. MHR will be having a mass Monday, November 2, at 8 a.m. and people are free to bring photos of deceased loved ones, including pets, and place them on the table at the entrance to the church at any time through November 22, according to the parish pastor, the Reverend Matt Link.

Link stated that “it helps us if you

put your name on the back of the photo so we make sure your pictures make their [way] back to you at the end of next month.”

“The ties of love which knit and bind us together are so strong,” Link added. “These ties are not unraveled in death.”

Jeffery Kwong, a parishioner at MHR, said that there are new COVID remembrances already lining the walls of the church.

“Every year I bring a picture of my counselor at Lowell High School, Sue DeVries, to Most Holy Redeemer, where her partner and wife Vicki and her students held her funeral mass,” Kwong stated. “It’s a time for reflection of those we love – those that we miss in our community.”

People can also participate from afar by emailing a photo to secretary@ mhr.org, after which the photo will be printed out.

Currently, in San Francisco, indoor places of worship are allowed to be open at 25% of capacity, up to 100 people. This is scheduled to expand to 50% of capacity, up to 200 people on November 3, as the city moves into the yellow tier of reopening.

MHR is located at 100 Diamond Street in the Castro.

B.A.R. editor secures aging fellowship

B.A.R. assistant editor John Ferrannini has earned an aging-focused fellowship from the Gerontological Society of America. He is one of 15 reporters for the next cohort of the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, now in its 11th year.

According to a news release from the society, the projects will be produced in 2021 and include mental health challenges of older adults due to COVID-19, issues surrounding senior housing, employment, aging in place, and other topics. Ferrannini’s pieces will focus on LGBTQ elder

Courtesy John Ferrannini

B.A.R. assistant editor John Ferrannini

housing issues, including the pandemic’s impact, and senior isolation.

The program is supported by funding from the Silver Century Foundation, the RFF Foundation for Aging, the Commonwealth Fund, the John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Gannett Foundation.

Others who received the fellowships are: Lola Butcher, Undark magazine; Xuanlu “Melody” Cao, SinoVision Inc.; Diane Eastabrook, PBS Next Avenue; Carl L. Johnson, PolyByDesign and Faika Broadcasting; Jenny Manrique, Palabra/ National Hispanic Journalists Association; Margaret “Peggy” Sands Orchowski, Ph.D., the Georgetowner; Jatika H. Patterson, the Crisis/ NAACP; Nargis Rahman, Tostada magazine; Rachel Roubein, Politico; Lara Salahi, Gannett Media’s New England North Unit; Maria Sestito, the Desert Sun; Casey Smith, the Associated Press; Eduardo Stanley, Community Alliance; and Julia Yarbough, Action News Now, KHSL/ KNVN. B.A.R. assistant editor Matthew S. Bajko received a similar fellowship in 2014.

See page 9 >>

10/9/20 1:08 PM

<< From the Cover

8 • Bay Area Reporter • October 29-November 4, 2020

<<

Nonprofits

From page 1

ber of youth at any given time, in our rear outdoor area following health and safety protocols,” she added. “Once we assess that this limited reopening goes well, we’ll notify the community more widely.”

Other nonprofits noted they have remained open as they were designated essential services.

Geracar’ Nervis, the senior manager at Larkin Street Youth Services, wrote, “We were deemed essential at the start of the pandemic and have remained actively working with inperson services available. This reopening does not apply to us. Thanks for reaching out.”

PRC also has operations that have been ongoing during the pandemic, chief operating officer Joe Tuohy wrote to the B.A.R.

<<

LGBTQ elders

From page 1

Elizondo called another friend of Gee’s, Sue Englander, to pitch her the idea about purchasing the TV. A queer college history professor, Englander became friends with Gee eight years ago after they met at an event honoring a deceased trans nightclub performer. They grew close helping to plan an annual aging conference for older LGBTQ people where Englander serves as a main convener.

(This year’s conference, which was to be themed “To Your Queer Health,” had to be postponed to 2021.) “[Elizondo] is very outgoing, generous, and thinks of others,” said Englander. “She called me and said, ‘I am worried about [Gee]. All she has for entertainment is her phone. Isn’t that awful? Shouldn’t we do something?’”

Due to the success of their fundraising efforts, Englander noted, they were able to also purchase a few supplies for Gee. “We got her a nice TV, and we got her snacks and a few other things, just to make her life more easy and happy,” said Englander. “We were pleased to do it.”

The gesture was just one of the ways the women have been able to support each other through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elizondo lives alone like Gee, though she has her dogs Gypsy Rose Lee, a black Pomeranian mix, and

<<

“PRC Baker Places has continued to provide all essential services to our clients since March. Our 10 residential treatment programs, such as Joe Healy Detox Program, Hummingbird Place, and Acceptance Place, have provided 24/7 residential care at full capacity throughout the pandemic. Other essential services, including emergency financial assistance and case management for supportive housing, have been providing services at our Integrated Service Center at 170 Ninth Street, since March,” Tuohy wrote.

“In mid-March we implemented a work from home policy for all administrative staff and for nonessential services such as workforce development and legal advocacy,” he explained.

“These programs have continued providing services to clients remotely.

Currently, the plan is to return to the office after the first of the year. We are meeting in the coming week to determine if this is still feasible, or if

Security cameras

From page 1

The decision came after a second local organization raised serious questions about having cameras positioned throughout the Castro. The Castro LGBTQ Cultural District advisory board issued a statement Oct. 22 voicing its “grave concern” about the plan.

Stephen Torres, who sits on the cultural district board, read a statement regarding the cameras that the advisory body had approved just before the Oct 22 meeting of the CBD services committee.

“The community elected advisory board of the San Francisco Castro LGBTQ Cultural District would like to express its grave concern over the proposal being considered by the Castro Community Benefit District, as put forth by the vendor Applied Video Solutions to implement a privatelyfunded video surveillance system in the CBD footprint which includes the Castro, Eureka Valley, and Upper Market neighborhoods and closely mirrors that of the cultural district,” the statement, which was provided to the media at the start of the meeting, partly reads.

“Furthermore, the city and the Union Square BID are already facing a lawsuit brought forth by the American Civil Liberties Union and activist Hope Williams who sits on our allied organization, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Demo-

Rick Gerharter

Felicia Elizondo looks through a scrapbook she has made of the many locations that have been special in her life.

t

the date should be pushed back, most likely to July 1, 2021.”

Karyn Skultety, Ph.D., a bisexual woman who is the executive director of Openhouse, wrote that no change is planned for the LGBTQ seniors organization.

“At this point, Openhouse is not going to make a change. Given that we serve seniors, who remain part of the most vulnerable population for COVID-19, we are continuing to offer services primarily by phone and virtually through Zoom,” she wrote.

“We have some limited 1:1 services supporting residents in our housing that will continue. We also are making an effort to bring community to LGBTQ seniors in their homes by doing socially distanced deliveries of groceries weekly for those who are food insecure and gifts of community/connection quarterly for the larger group of seniors we serve.”

Magnet, the sexual health clinic at

Strut in the Castro neighborhood, is still not seeing walk-in clients but does offer sexual health screenings by appointment Wednesday-Saturday. A full list of the status of San Francisco AIDS Foundation projects, of which Magnet and Strut are a part, is available online (https://www.sfaf.org/ collections/status/covid-19-generalinfo/).

Roberto Ordeñana, the deputy executive director of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, wrote that the current in-person office hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays are likely to expand soon.

“To promote the health and safety of its staff, tenants, and visitors, the center has implemented all the necessary COVID-19 mitigation efforts in alignment with the San Francisco Department of Public Health,” Ordeñana stated. “Our facility reopened back in September to provide access to essential information and referral,

cyber center and youth services – for community members who otherwise can not reach us, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 4 p.m.; and we anticipate expansion of those hours in the next few months.”

The GLBT Historical Society and St. James Infirmary did not respond to requests for comment.

The historical society reopened its museum in the Castro in early October. It has reduced capacity and people must reserve a ticket online. (www.glbthistory.org.) The society’s archives, located in a downtown office building, remain closed.

St. James, which provides health services to sex workers and others, acknowledged to the B.A.R. for the first time on October 19 that it does not have an executive director after Newman, the nonprofit’s last leader, was tapped to lead LYRIC on an interim basis. t

tinue to care for one another, either virtually or at a safe social distance, as they ride out the pandemic.

Gee, Elizondo, and Englander have all spent much of the last seven months in their homes, with their network of friends and neighbors to assist them with basic needs like groceries.

“We have had friends who have shopped for us. Initially, in the first few months, we did not want to go anywhere near a market,” said Englander, 68, who lives with her spouse, John Durham. “It not only supplied us with food; it gave us the knowledge that people care. It was an act of love.”

get together for socially distanced activities, like grabbing a bite to eat.

While stuck at home, Elizondo is working on gathering her life history.

As the holidays approach, one activity she is missing out on is performing with her musical drag group, the Tenderloin Queen’s Revue. During LGBTQ Pride Month in June and throughout the holiday season, the group traditionally performs drag shows at venues accessible to older LGBTQ people, like SteppingStone Adult Day Health Care. The shows were meant to reach especially those unable to attend Pride events on their own or for those without family visiting them at Thanksgiving or the December holidays.

“As soon as we can, we are going to start again,” said Elizondo.

groups, and venture out as much as she could. Due to her accident, which fractured several of her ribs, Gee now has braces on both knees and uses a cane to walk.

“I was always outdoors and volunteering,” recalled Gee, who now practices with her choruses via Zoom rehearsals. “Talking on the phone is great, but face to face is best.”

Due to Gee’s accident, Englander makes it a point to stay in contact with Gee as much as possible during the pandemic. “[Gee] has been more frail since the truck accident, so I really wanted to be there to support her,” she said. “We talk on the phone, or sometimes I will walk by her house and she will come out on her balcony and wave at me.”

Prior to the pandemic, they had a rotating list of their favorite eateries they would circle through when they’d get together. For the foreseeable future, their get-togethers will be few and far between, said Englander, but they plan to remain in touch as best they can. “[Gee] is someone to celebrate,” said Englander. “I would be celebrating her, and do celebrate her, COVID or not. She is someone special.” t

‘I miss the freedom we had’

Simon Cowell, a mixed breed cocker spaniel, to keep her company.

With a large majority of LGBTQ elders single and living alone, it’s not uncommon to have formed “families of choice” with friends and neighbors for support and socializing. In a 2018 report on LGBTQ people 45 and older, AARP found that more than twothirds of respondents have been, or are, a caregiver to an adult loved one, and three-fourths expect to be a caregiver or need one in the future.

While these connections have been strained by the health crisis, older LGBTQ people have found ways to con-

Elizondo has long lived by herself in a former motel turned apartment building in San Francisco’s Lower Haight neighborhood. Other than going out early in the morning to run errands on occasion or taking her dogs for walks, she is largely housebound. Local nonprofits deliver food for both her and her dogs, limiting Elizondo’s need to go to stores. Being HIV-positive, Elizondo takes greater precautions to limit her risk of contracting COVID-19.

“I have always been very active and involved in my community,” she said. “It just is not the same anymore.

I miss the freedom that we had, but I am dealing with it. I am OK.” Elizondo formed a social bubble with three longtime friends who

cratic Club for improperly sharing surveillance footage from a Black Lives Matter protest with the San Francisco Police Department,” the cultural district statement noted.

“District 3 Supervisor Aaron Peskin is working on legislation to curb abuses of these surveillance networks and to ensure that members of the public have an opportunity to weigh in before they are acquired in the first place.”

Speaking on the other side of the issue was neighborhood resident Jacob Schaaf.

“I made it a point of being on this call today because of the fear I have walking our streets,” Schaaf said. “I am here because of the conditions we have in our community. I know a number of folks are opposed to cameras but it is part of the process and I am here to voice my support for what we do going forward.”

During its meeting, the CBD’s services committee discussed what the goals and objectives should be of its public safety initiative. It didn’t vote, however, on whether to approve or disapprove of the plan.

The overall plan comprises three ideas, including deploying public safety officers and ambassadors in the neighborhood, funded through the CBD’s Castro Cares grant.

But it is the third part of the initiative – the consideration of a “security camera network” in the district – that has raised concern within the community.

As the B.A.R. reported earlier this month, the CBD board ended up postponing a vote on accepting money for the camera system after the progressive Milk club expressed its opposition to their installation ahead of the October 8 meeting.

At that point, Aiello and the CBD went back to the drawing board and discussed how to conduct research, define goals and objectives, and seek community and expert feedback before deciding on whether to go forward with the plan or not.

The camera proposal came about after an increase in crime in the neighborhood this year, Aiello told the B.A.R. three weeks ago. At that time she said that “residents in the Castro” on the neighborhood social media website Nextdoor were excited about a New York Times article that appeared in July about tech mogul Chris Larsen, who is paying CBDs to install cameras around San Francisco.

“I don’t know if it was a proposal, it was more of a ‘let’s look at this,’” Aiello said, adding that Larsen would, through his foundation, give a grant of $695,000 for the installation and maintenance over two years of 125 cameras in the Castro neighborhood.

Larsen has not responded to requests for comment. According to Hoodline, Larsen has paid for over 1,000 cameras surveilling people in the Fisherman’s Wharf, Lower Polk, MidMarket, Tenderloin, Union Square, and Japantown neighborhoods.

‘I really wanted to be there to support her’

Because Gee lives across town in the city’s Polk Gulch neighborhood, she and Elizondo have not seen each other as often as before.

“We talk about once in a great while, but not as often as we used to,” said Elizondo. “We are still friends from afar. After the epidemic came, we couldn’t visit each other.”

A prolific volunteer, Gee maintained a vigorous schedule even after being hit by a truck crossing the street near her apartment building last fall.

She continued to pitch in at a soup kitchen, sing with a trio of choral

Improving public perception of safety

The beginning of the draft ‘goals and objectives’ for the CBD’s safety initiative states that it is “to improve the perception of public safety in the Castro & Upper Market for all who frequent the district.”

During the October 22 meeting, Alan Lau, vice president of the CBD board, said, “I’m not sure if perception is the word. What we are saying is we are going to improve it.”

Aiello told the B.A.R. after the meeting that the word perception would be changed in the final document.

In the “objectives” piece of the draft document, there are seven steps before “mak[ing a] decision on accepting [the] grant and installing [a] security camera network based on research and feedback from outreach strategies.”

These are researching the grant opportunity, an “initial meeting with community leaders in the field to introduce the program and assess interest and any concerns,” “collect policies from other CBDs in SF,” “define Castro CBD’s goals and objectives regarding a security camera network,” “develop outreach strategies to solicit feedback from merchants, community members and property owners through an online survey and an online ‘town hall,’” “get opinions of visitors and people from other parts of the city who frequent the Castro,” and

This story is a collaboration between the Bay Area Reporter and Next Avenue, a digital publication covering aging from Twin Cities PBS.

“issue RFP for installation and maintenance of camera system.”

The RFP, or request for proposal, is key, Aiello told the B.A.R., as it can include specifications about who has access to the camera footage, what kind of access they have, and when.

“The RFP is how you can state what you want in the product you are buying,” Aiello said, adding that it includes what picture resolution one wants from the cameras.

One potentiality could be to have the cameras blur everyone’s face unless the administrators of a specific camera are served with a subpoena, Aiello said.

“Some of the concerns and what we want out of the system, if we go forward, can be specified in the proposal to the vendors,” Aiello said.

“The technology is so advanced at this point that you can do a lot of different things to address a lot of different concerns. I do believe a lot of concerns can be addressed through the policy development process and through the RFP.” The cameras would not be a “daisy chain” of cameras, and each camera would only be accessed at its location, Aiello said, adding that this may make “network” the wrong word to describe what is being proposed.

The CBD executive committee will next meet virtually at 9 a.m. November 3. Interested individuals can join that meeting via http://castrocbd.org/ upcoming-meetings/. t

t <<

Community News>>

News Briefs

From page 7

LaBelle to headline PRC virtual gala

Patti LaBelle, the Godmother of Soul, will headline PRC’s virtual gala Saturday, November 7, from 6 to 7:15 p.m.

Known as Mighty Real, the gala will be livestreamed and feature LaBelle receiving the agency’s Sylvester Community Pillar Award.

“How fortunate are we to get to

<<

Historic landmarks

From page 2

and staffing it needed to do so.

“I am concerned about the resources we have and how do we prioritize and continue to keep all the relevant things to move forward and not be overly exhausting our staff,” said So. Part of the reason for the lengthy landmark process is the research and documentation required into the his-

October 29-November 4, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 9

For the upcoming PRC gala, residents in San Francisco and Oakland are offered a “dinner and wine” option from Absinthe Brasserie and Bar delivered to your door. Ticket prices (without a meal) start at $100 and can be purchased at www.prcsf. org/mightyreal. The cost for the event and dinner is $200. t

spend a beautiful fall evening with the incomparable Patti LaBelle as we gather virtually this year to support those in need across San Francisco,” PRC CEO Brett Andrews stated in a news release. “This has been a trying year for everyone, so we’re thankful for the opportunity to bring some musical light to everyone’s lives. Ms. LaBelle is the epitome of both compassion and glamour, and we’re looking forward to our time together.”

The Sylvester award is named

after Sylvester James Jr., the gay singer-songwriter best known for a string of 1970s and 1980s disco singles, including “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real).” Sylvester, who campaigned against the spread of HIV/AIDS, died of complications of the disease in 1988. In his will, the singer directed royalties from all future sales of his music to two San Francisco-based AIDS organizations, the AIDS Emergency Fund, which merged with PRC in 2016, and Project Open Hand.

tory of the sites; the Paper Doll’s report, for instance, was 200 pages.

Planner Marcelle Boudreaux informed the commission that the preservation staff would have a better understanding in March of how many landmark applications they could process in 2021. Their goal for next year is to work on 12, which would be “slightly more” than usual, she pointed out.

One solution they are pursuing is

having planning staff work on an historic site as part of their professional development, said Boudreaux.

Asked by Commissioner Richard S.E. Johns if the staff had looked at prioritizing the list of properties waiting to be landmarked, Boudreaux replied that the department agrees it makes sense to rank the sites from most important to least in terms of working on their applications but has had “trouble” doing so. She did note

the department has sought advice from the public, including those in the LGBTQ community, on which sites it should focus on first.

“It is something we want to work through and bring back to the commission,” said Boudreaux.

As the B.A.R. noted in 2016, Hannah Fong, a summer intern working with the planning department’s historic preservation staff, pulled together the list of local historic LGBTQ

properties from those highlighted in the citywide LGBTQ historic context statement that had been adopted the previous year. Her list included a 10th property, the Women’s Building, which was already deemed a city landmark but was selected as a third property with LGBTQ ties to be given federal recognition.

It was named a national historic site in 2018. t

cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A hearing on the petition will be held in this court as follows: November 16, 2020, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250.

A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Party without attorney: RICHARD H. MCKANNAY, JR., 170 AVILA ST., SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94123; Ph. (415) 441-4040.

BURNT CLAY, 1395 WALLACE AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed CLAY CALIFORNIA LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/07/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/20.

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039177300

as follows: November, 17, 2020, 9:00 am, Rm. 204, Superior Court of California, 400 McAllister St., San Francisco, CA 94102. If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or contingent creditor of the decedent, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the latter of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined by section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statutes and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Attorney for petitioner: DAVID W. KNIGHT (SBN 195105), LAW OFFICES OF DAVID W. KNIGHT, 2300 BOYNTON AVE #104, FAIRFIELD, CA 94533; Ph. (707) 422-5411.

John Ferrannini contributed reporting.

Singer Patti LaBelle

Derek Blanks

Legals>> CITATION FOR FREEDOM FROM PARENTAL CUSTODY AND CONTROL IN SUPERIOR COURT, COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO: CASE 20AD000356C

In the matter of ANABELLA CHIKEI LIN, a minor, to JIAHUI LIN, you are ordered to appear in the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego, in Department 903 at the court location 2851 Meadow Park Dr., San Diego, CA 92123, on December 11, 2020 at 9:00am to show cause why ANABELLA CHIKEI LIN should not be declared free from parental custody and control for the purpose of placement for adoption as required in the petition. At the hearing, the judge will read the petition and, if requested, will explain the effect of the granting of the petition, any term or allegation contained therein and the nature of the proceeding, its procedures and possible consequences, and may continue the matter for not more than 30 days for the appointment of counsel or to give counsel time to prepare. The court may appoint counsel to represent the minor whether or not the minor is able to afford counsel. If any parent appears and is unable to afford counsel, the court shall appoint counsel to represent each parent who appears unless such representation is knowingly and intelligently waived. Someone over the age of 18 – not the petitioner – must serve the other party with all the forms and complete a proof of service form, such as Proof of Service (JC Form #FL-330 or JC Form #FL-335), telling when and how the other party was served and file that with the court. If you wish to seek the advice of an attorney in this matter, you should do so promptly so that your pleading, if any, may be filed on time. Party Without Attorney: Gabriel Blaluk Idip & Yanshan Tan, 17810 Pueblo Vista Ln, San Diego, CA 92127. Date: 09/25/2020, Edlene McKenzie, Judge of the Superior Court.

OCT 08, 15, 22, 29, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555924

In the matter of the application of DAVID PHONG BUI & KEVIN MICHAEL MCCARTHY, 2331 12TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94116, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner DAVID PHONG BUI & KEVIN MICHAEL MCCARTHY is requesting that the name GAVIN ALAN MINH MCCARTHY BUI be changed to GAVIN ALAN MINH MCCARTHY-BUI. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 17th of November 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 08, 15, 22, 29, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039163300 The following person(s) is/are doing business as STANDARD STUDIO, 702 BRODERICK ST UNIT C, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MICHAEL DOLAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/20.

OCT 08, 15, 22, 29, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039162100

The following person(s) is/are doing business as EYE LEVEL OPTOMETRY, 1544 CHURCH ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94131. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed NG BONNIE OD, A PROF CORP (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 11/10/05. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/29/20.

OCT 08, 15, 22, 29, 2020 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF LYNN MCKANNAY AKA LYNN BLASKOWER MCKANNAY IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-18-302353

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of LYNN MCKANNAY AKA LYNN BLASKOWER MCKANNAY. A Petition for Probate has been filed by RICHARD H. MCKANNAY, JR. in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that RICHARD H. MCKANNAY, JR. be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good

OCT 15, 22, 29, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555931

In the matter of the application of JEANNETTE LAURA DAVIS, 3184 MISSION ST #202, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner JEANNETTE LAURA DAVIS is requesting that the name JEANNETTE LAURA DAVIS AKA JEANNETTE LAURA MANN be changed to JEANNETTE LAURA O’CONNOR. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 24th of November 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 AMENDED ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555869

In the matter of the application of LI JUAN WU, 577 MISSOURI ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107 for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner LI JUAN WU is requesting that the name LI JUAN WU be changed to LI JUAN WU-WONG. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 1st of December 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039175900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as PRETTY BABY BRIDAL; SMOKIES TOKE COUTURE; PUFFY P; 1240 20TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed PILAR JOHNSON. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 05/18/15. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/08/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039174600

The following person(s) is/are doing business as WAX JEWELLERY, 1226 SUTTER ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed DEBBIE MEI WAH CHOU. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 10/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/08/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039172700 The following person(s) is/are doing business as WELLER HOTEL, 908 POST ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed JALASAI BAPU LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 08/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039173600 The following person(s) is/are doing business as

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039173500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as FIORELLA SUNSET, 1240 9TH AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed PROSPECT PIZZA SUNSET LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039157200

The following person(s) is/are doing business as POWERSTREAM LLC, 912 COLE ST #156, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed QUALITY APPLIANCE REPAIR SAN FRANCISCO LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/17/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039168500 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ABU SALIM MIDDLE EASTERN GRILL, 1599 HAIGHT ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117. This business is conducted by a limited liability company, and is signed ABU SALIM LLC (CA). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on NA. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/20.

OCT 15, 22, 29, NOV 05, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555926

In the matter of the application of KARLA JESSENIA MELARA, 78 CARR ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94124, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner KARLA JESSENIA MELARA AKA KARLA JESSENIA MEJIA is requesting that the name KARLA JESSENIA MELARA AKA KARLA JESSENIA MEJIA be changed to KARLA MELARA MEJIA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N on the 19th of November 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555944

In the matter of the application of CAROLE EILEEN ACUNA-PICKENS, 2212 POLK ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94109, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CAROLE EILEEN ACUNAPICKENS is requesting that the name CAROLE EILEEN ACUNA-PICKENS be changed to TACHIRIA FLAMENCO ROMELIA. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103N, Rm. 103N on the 1st of December 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039168800 The following person(s) is/are doing business as LAW OFFICES OF STANTON & KAUFMAN, 400 MONTGOMERY ST #502, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94104. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MARY BETH KAUFMAN. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 04/01/08. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039172900

The following person(s) is/are doing business as PAUL WOODFORD SERVICES, 296 COLERIDGE ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94110. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed GEORGE PAUL WOODFORD. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/10/97. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/07/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020

The following person(s) is/are doing business as SFGIFTBASKET.COM, 201 CLAY ST, 2 EMBARCADERO CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94111. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MITRA GHIASI. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/01/06. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039168900 The following person(s) is/are doing business as DATARACY, 1583 SCHAEFFER RD, SEBASTOPOL, CA 95472. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed CAMERON HOLL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/14/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/05/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039177200 The following person(s) is/are doing business as ANNA BEAUTY SALON, 4 PERSIA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94112. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANA ANAYA GALEANO. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/09/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/10/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039164100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as CHORUS, 2370 MARKET ST #103 PMB 174, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94114. This business is conducted by a corporation, and is signed CHORUS WELLNESS INC (DE). The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 09/17/19. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/01/20.

OCT 22, 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF CAROL ANN DODA IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO: FILE PES-20-303968

To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of CAROL ANN DODA. A Petition for Probate has been filed

by THOMAS A. SMITH in the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco. The Petition for Probate requests that THOMAS A. SMITH be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. (This authority will allow the personal representative to take many actions without obtaining court approval. Before taking certain very important actions, however, the personal representative will be required to give notice to interested persons unless they have waived notice or consented to the proposed action.) The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority.

A hearing on the petition will be held in this court

OCT 29, NOV 05, 12, 2020 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME IN SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO FILE CNC-20-555935

In the matter of the application of CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BASKETT, 88 HOWARD ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94105, for change of name having been filed in Superior Court, and it appearing from said application that petitioner CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BASKETT is requesting that the name CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL BASKETT be changed to CHRISTOPHER KAI BROX. Now therefore, it is hereby ordered, that all persons interested in said matter do appear before this Court in Dept. 103 on the 1st of December 2020 at 9:00am of said day to show cause why the application for change of name should not be granted.

OCT 29, NOV 05, 12, 19, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039163100 The following person(s) is/are doing business as AW MANERS AND ETIQUETTE, 126 TERRA VISTA AVE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed ANGIE WANG. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 01/15/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 09/30/20.

OCT 29, NOV 05, 12, 19, 2020 FICTITIOUS BUSINESS NAME STATEMENT FILE A-039165300

The following person(s) is/are doing business as MORGEN DEPENTHAL DESIGN, THE XO MASK, 2101 DIVISADERO ST, SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94115. This business is conducted by an individual, and is signed MORGEN DEPENTHAL. The registrant(s) commenced to transact business under the above listed fictitious business name or names on 07/31/20. The statement was filed with the City and County of San Francisco, CA on 10/01/20.

OCT 29, NOV 05, 12, 19, 2020

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Siskel Film Center

Carmilla

by David-Elijah Nahmod

I

n the mood for something spooky? Here are some movies (and a book) you can watch to enhance your Halloween season.

All titles have a decidedly queer twist.

Carmilla Based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novel of the same name, Emily Harris’ Carmilla tells the tale of Lara (Hannah Rae), a lonely girl living in isolation with her widowed father and her stern governess Miss Fontaine (Jessica Raine). But then Carmilla (Devrim Lingnau), a mysterious young girl who survives a deadly carriage accident, is allowed to stay in the house while she recuperates. Lara and Carmilla very quickly develop an attraction to each other, which includes cutting their hands and licking each other’s blood. It doesn’t take

Halloween horrors with a queer twist Miss Fontaine long to realize that Carmilla is seducing Lara, and that Carmilla is a vampire.

This slow-paced, atmospheric film has an almost dreamlike quality. Raine is superb as the repressed governess who has a few sexual secrets of her own, but the film belongs to the two young girls whose budding romance masks something deeply sinister. It’s a brilliant new take on an old classic. Carmilla is available on DVD and streams at Vudu and Amazon Prime.

The Vampire Lovers In an earlier take on Le Fanu’s Carmilla, The Vampire Lovers was produced in 1970

by England’s famed Hammer Films, purveyors of traditional Gothic horror cinema. The film is chock full of drafty castles, fog-bound graveyards, and topless young women. Polishborn Ingrid Pitt is sensational as Carmilla, the original lesbian vampire with a yen for young ladies. She leaves her vampiric fang marks on her victims’ breasts! Famed horror movie star Peter Cushing is on hand as the vampire hunter, determined to end Carmilla’s reign of terror. Available on DVD, BluRay, and streaming at Amazon Prime.

The Vampire Lovers

brand new 4K restored print taken from the film’s original camera negative. Delphine Seyrig, then a huge star of European cinema, plays Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a centuriesold Hungarian noblewoman who retains her youth with the blood of young women. She and her ‘secretary’ Ilona (Andrea Rau), are staying in a desolate hotel in Belgium, where they become involved in an erotic game of cat and mouse with a pair of young newlyweds (John Karlen, Danielle Ouimet). Karlen is best known for his role as Willie Loomis on

the classic TV series Dark Shadows. Some D.S. fans may be titillated, others shocked, to see Karlen in the buff in this film. He’s hot!

But it’s Seyrig’s movie. Her lesbian vampire is mysterious, elegant, and hypnotic.

Also streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi TV, although this is not the restored version.t

For more, including Stan the Mechanic, Painter, Bride of Frankenstein and Rob Rosen’s Sort of Dead, go to www.ebar.com

Daughters of Darkness This 1971 cult film comes to BluRay in a

Daughters of Darkness

Fall 2020 reading list

by Gregg Shapiro

N Josh Kornbluth’s Citizen Brain

Curtains up

S

hotgun Players, Berkeley Repertory and Marin Theatre Company each have new shows ready to be viewed safely online, with astute and timely political and social messages told through innovative ways. Jim Gladstone tells more on www.ebar.com.t

ewly released in a paperback edition, the 15th book by award-winning lesbian writer Lucy Jane Bledsoe is Lava Falls: Stories (University of Wisconsin, 2019/2018), a collection featuring a dozen short stories “at the intersection of wilderness, family and survival.”

Not meant to be read on an empty stomach, or even if you’re the slightest bit hungry (there’s a lot of cooking and eating!), Memorial (Riverhead, 2020) the debut novel by Bryan Washington (author of the acclaimed 2019 short story collection Lot) introduces us to Benson and Mike, a mixed race (one Black and one Japanese) gay couple negotiating their fragile and strained romantic connection while also trying to maintain relationships with their complicated families.

The must-read book of the season.

Finding Tulsa (Palm Drive Publishing, 2020), the new novel by Lammy Award-winning novelist and longtime journalist Jim Provenzano, provides readers with all the laughs we need at this difficult time (as well as some serious moments), while taking us back to the 1970s and 1990s, as gay filmmaking narrator Stan seeks love and success.

To Be a Man: Stories (Harper, 2020), the debut short story collection by novelist Nicole Krauss is an international affair,

whisking readers to various locations, and includes “Zusya on the Roof,” in which Brodman meets his grandson in the company of “his daughter, her girlfriend, the homosexual who had contributed the sperm, the homosexual’s boyfriend.”

It’s been said that timing is everything and the publication of As If Death Summoned: A Novel of the AIDS Epidemic (Amble Press, 2020) by Alan E. Rose, coming out as it does in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, gives the already powerful story that much more weight.

AIDS also figures prominently in Lazarus Rising (Delphinium Books, 2020), the new novel by 92-year-old writer Joseph Caldwell, one of the gay men who co-created vampire Barnabas Collins for the daytime horror soap opera Dark Shadows.

Longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize and a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist, The Man Who Saw Everything (Bloomsbury, 2020/2019) by Deborah Levy, now in paperback, takes us back to 1988 where narcissistic, young, bisexual historian Saul Adler’s life is forever changed when he is hit by a car while waiting to recreate the iconic Beatles’ Abbey Road photo.t

For more book titles, read the full article on www.ebar.com

t

Music & Glimmers of Hope>>

October 29-November 4, 2020 • Bay Area Reporter • 11

June Millington Cofounder of Fanny, the pioneering women’s band, is still rockin’

by Gregg Shapiro

J

une Millington is the very definition of a living music legend. A founding member of celebrated all-female rock band Fanny in the early 1970s (one that was signed to a major label), Millington and her bandmates, including sister Jean, paved the way for everyone from the Runaways to the GoGo’s and the Bangles to Team Dresch and Sleater-Kinney to Ex Hex and Chastity Belt.

Millington, an out lesbian, also knocked down barriers for queer musicians via her association with Cris Williamson and others in the early days of the women’s music scene. At 72, she shows no signs of slowing down with Per Brandin, courtesy June Millington multiple projects currently in the works. June was kind enough to June Millington answer a few questions in midOctober, shortly before heading growth was a must. And I’m totally out to celebrate her 36th anniversary happy that the world is discovering, with her partner Ann. and enjoying, us all over again.

Gregg Shapiro: 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Fanny’s eponymous album. What does such an occasion mean to you?

June Millington: It means, number one, that I (we) survived! That simply cannot be overstated. The industry, bands who came after us, I just don’t know how many people or entities, tried to “disappear” us.

Fortunately, I met Cris Williamson in 1975 and discovered one of the principal reasons I had to leave the band in 1973. Leaving was tough, but

There is a distinctive timelessness to Fanny’s music. When you listen to it now, what are you proudest of about the songs?

I think, two things: that we improved relentlessly through hard work, and we got better, in not a very long time, than a lot of guy bands!

And, our material and styles never stood still. But, we had quite a few of the top tier players and bands on our side: Lowell George, in Little Feat; Jeff Skunk Baxter, Steely Dan/ Doobie Brothers, even the Beatles, although they never mentioned it.

But they were okay with our adding a verse to “Hey Bulldog” (which we recorded at Apple Studio), so that says quite a bit. Folks can also catch up on a lot of details on the FannyRocks podcasts, which we started just a few months ago and which you can find on the www.fannyrocks.com website.

In addition to original songs, Fanny’s albums included cover

tunes that were written by men.

Was this intentional or was there simply a dearth of songs by female songwriters?

We never divided it into gender, although when we developed as a band from ‘65 on, with a varying cast of players, and my sister Jean and I always the principals, we had to do mostly dance covers for about four years and always messed around with gender. People didn’t care. They just wanted to dance!

Can you please say a few words about your activism on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community?

I have always spoken Truth to Power, whenever I could, and as best I could. In Fanny, people think I hid my sexuality - I did not. I just couldn’t speak to it so much then, and besides misogyny was at the tip of our spear, always. You just had to push through, get better -

For those not in the know, how did the band arrive at the name Fanny?

I heard of a band called Daisy Chain when we were trying to rename the band in LA, which was signed in ‘69 as Wild Honey, and thought, “How cool, there’s a woman’s name in there!” That felt really good to me. So, I suggested that as an angle, it was added to a really long list, and everyone liked it: the producer, new manager, and record company, to be exact. They were the people, and June Millington (3rd right) in a 1982 promotional photo for Fanny powers that be, who mattered.

Personals

bigger, badder, louder all the time!

And I mean that sincerely, that was a damn tough job. In fact, it was relentless, and I believe the ‘opposing forces’ succeeded, until recently. So, being alive now, and being able to speak out now more than before, is a sweet success. Being introduced to Cris in mid-’75, and therefore a direct line into women’s music, didn’t hurt either.

Among your numerous honors, you received the 2005 OutMusic Heritage Award. What did such recognition from your LGBTQ+ peers mean to you?

It meant a lot. Being heard and seen is so important, and I wish it for all of us. For me, as a FilipinaAmerican, who moved here with our family when I was 13 (in 1961), it’s super-important!

You know, I was a nice, shy, young Filipina when we got here. I didn’t speak much, I watched. Then, music became (my sister) Jean’s and my voice; and, we just kept getting louder with the band, in fact were growling, a deep growl! So, the recognition, and keeping up with creativity through music and my book Land of a Thousand Bridges: Island Girl in a Rock & Roll World, I feel like I’m catching up with my own life!! I’m pretty big on Asian-American pride. People don’t realize, for the most part, how big a deal that is -- and Filipinos are so musically talented!t

Read the full interview, with music videos, on www.ebar.com

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Everything essential for Castro cocktails

HALLOWEEN

Photo by Rick Gerharter

W

ith parklets for many bars and restaurants, Castro businesses are gaining back patrons and fans. On October 25, Militia Scunt performed on the sidewalk on Castro Street during a drag benefit to help the clothing store Knobs stay open. On Saturdays and Sundays, 18th Street at Castro will closed to car traffic, for increasingly popular outdoor dining and drinking. Don your mask, and return to nightlife fun.t

Art for the People

MASKS, MAKEUP, FEATHERS, FABRIC, BOAS, COSTUMES, GLITTER & DECORATIONS

by Jim Provenzano

A

s health safety precautions remain in effect, some large museums have reopened under careful guidelines, while others, including smaller galleries, showcase beautiful and thought-provoking works online. Don your most artistic facemask and take in something visual. Venues are open to limited attendance, some with timed entry; reservations and facemasks required. Read the full list on www.ebar.com.t

479 Castro Street (415) 431-5365 www.cliffsvariety.com Cliffs_100120.indd 1

9/30/20 11:13 AM

PROUD TO BE ONE OF THE FIRST CARBON-NEUTRAL HEALTH SYSTEMS IN THE U.S. Kaiser Permanente continues its longstanding commitment to environmental sustainability and efforts to help slow climate change.

To reach this milestone we improved energy efficiency in our buildings, installed on-site solar power, purchased new renewable energy generation, and invested in carbon offsets with strong health benefits to counter unavoidable emissions.

This move to carbon neutrality eliminates our annual carbon footprint and helps improve conditions for healthier communities. Learn more at: kp.org/green.